The Hunter and his Huntress
by SuperheroAddict1
Summary: Daryl Dixon was hunting in the woods one day when he runs into Kayla. The two clash instantly, their similar personalities making it difficult for them to get along. But when they do start seeing eye to eye, can the two actually become friends, and maybe something more?
1. Chapter 1

Kayla tried to be as quiet as possible as she quickly made her way through the woods, carefully stepping over tree branches that had fallen off of the trees, and roots that were sticking out of the ground. Looking up and into the sky between the thick leaves on the tree branches she could see that the sun was already setting, and the impending darkness of night made her break out into a quick jog. She had never been out in the woods past dark since the outbreak, and didn't plan on starting now.

She was around ten minutes away from her small cabin when the snapping of a tree branch a few feet to her side stopped her in her tracks. In a fear induced panic she grabbed the hunting knife she kept scrapped to her side out of its place and held it tightly in her right hand. Taking slow steps towards the sound, she turned around the base of a tree only to come face to face with the front part of a cross bow.

"Who the hell are you?" Kayla asked, gathering her bearings quickly after realizing the person on the other end of the cross bow wasn't a walker. He was taller than she was, but since she was only barely 5'1 it was pretty easy for people to be taller than her. His blue eyes were squinting, staring holes through Kayla over the top of the crossbow. His arms, that were visible since he was wearing a green colored tank top, were toned, tanned, and muscled.

"I could be askin you the same thing." He snapped back, never once letting his gaze stray away from Kayla.

"I asked you first." Kayla replied, the corners of her mouth tugging into a frown at how the guy seemed very untrusting. Not that Kayla could blame him; she wasn't being very trusting right now either.

"Daryl." The man replied after a few seconds of them both being totally silent. Kayla looked him over once more, debating if she should give him her name. Finally deciding it was only fair, since he had told her his, she finally responded.

"Kayla." She replied, slowly putting her hunting knife back into its holster on her hip. Her arm was getting tired from holding it up like she had been, and she also wanted to see if Daryl would retract his weapon as well. Like she thought, he did no such thing, keeping his cross bow expertly trained right between her eyes.

"What'cha doin out in these woods all alone?" Daryl asked, using the back of his left hand to wipe away some sweat that had accumulated on his forehead from hunting in the woods all day. Kayla made the quick decision to lie, convincing herself that she couldn't trust anyone at this point. So she would make up a story and keep her little cabin in the woods a secret, until she could figure out more about Daryl and where he had come from.

"I'm going for a casual stroll, what's it look like I'm doing?" She asked sarcastically. "I had to go set up some traps for food and stuff deep in the woods. What's your excuse?" She asked. She hadn't totally lied, she was setting up some traps to capture something to eat for later. But she hadn't set the traps up that far from where they were, afraid she would forget where they were from her cabin.

"Huntin, same as you." He replied. "But instead of findin deer I found you. You got a camp? Anyone else you with?" He started to ask, rattling off question after question without leaving Kayla that much time to answer them in between.

"I've been sleeping up in trees mostly, high up so walkers can't get me. I haven't seen anyone who was alive since this whole thing started months ago." She answered when Daryl finally went quiet again. "What about you? You have a group, other people?" She asked, getting a little aggravated that he still had his cross bow trained on her, even though he had pulled it back a little bit so it wasn't directly in her face anymore.

"Ain't any of yer business." Daryl snapped. He couldn't decide what to make of Kayla. He didn't really believe that she could've survived on her own by living in trees, at one point she should've fallen out of it and broke her neck or something. So he figured she must be lying, but for what he couldn't figure out.

"Well then where does that leave us, since you don't want to tell me anything about you and I don't think there's enough room for both of us in a tree." Kayla replied, trying to figure out where this line of conversation was taking them. Again she hadn't totally lied, there wouldn't be enough room for both of them, but in her cabin and not in a tree.

"Your comin with me, that's where that leaves us." Daryl responded after a minute. He quickly swung his cross bow around so it was against his back, the strap of it across his chest to secure the cross bow to him. He grabbed Kayla roughly by her upper arm and started to lead the way through the woods in the direction he had come from.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where we're going!" Kayla hissed, trying to keep her voice somewhat quiet so any walkers close by wouldn't be attracted, but wanting to get her point across. She dug her feet into the dirt and struggled against Daryl's grip on her arm, trying to squirm free.

"We're goin to my camp. Now shut up and quit trying to slow us down before ya get us both killed." Daryl snapped, tightening his grip on Kayla's upper arm until she stopped struggling. A million thoughts whirled through her head at once about where she was being taken. She tried to memorize her way back in case he was taking her somewhere awful, she could get back to her little cabin. The sun was setting though, so she knew she'd have to stay with him and his 'camp' at least until morning, or she'd end up getting lost. With rattled nerves and her mind racing a mile a minute, Kayla fell into step next to Daryl, still gripping her arm as he directed her back to his own camp.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to FanFicGirl10 and Leyshla Gisel for reviewing! Also thank you for the favorites and follows! I'm glad that people are reading and enjoying this!**

Kayla and Daryl had been walking for what felt like a good half hour before they broke out of the woods and out onto a dirt road area. During their walk through the woods Daryl had basically dragged Kayla the whole way, never once letting go of her upper arm. They hadn't come across any walkers, which was a good thing, but Kayla was getting more and more antsy about where she was being taken the longer they walked.

"Don't tell me we have to drive to your camp from here." She stated, her eyes falling on a motorcycle pulled off to the side of the road. The body of the motorcycle was low to the ground, while the handle bars were higher up. Truth be told it was a nice looking bike, but Kayla knew that motorcycles were extremely loud when the engine was turned on. Knowing that walkers were attracted to sound didn't help to ease her mind about getting on the back of the motorcycle one bit.

"Why? Worried bought walkers?" Daryl asked, keeping his grip tight on her arm and gently pushing her in front of him, towards the motorcycle. "I've rode this thing since the walkers showed up. Aint nothing happened to me." He stated, stopping next to the bike and frowning slightly, his eyes squinting even more than they normally were.

"I'm not afraid, I just don't like the idea of getting on the back of a strangers motorcycle. My mom told me to never talk to strangers, let alone get rides from them." Kayla snapped back, her words dripping with sarcasm. "What's wrong? Forget how to turn the thing on?" She asked, turning her head to look over at Daryl and raising an eyebrow.

"No." Daryl snapped angrily. "Tryin to figure out how ta get us both on the bike with my cross bow." He replied, stepping behind Kayla a little bit and taking his cross bow off from his back and staring at it for a second.

"Oh Jesus Christ just give it to me. I'll strap it across my back and that way it doesn't get crushed, but we still have access to it." Kayla rolled her eyes, turning to see Daryl and holding her hand out for the cross boy. Daryl looked up at her like she was crazy, shaking his head defiantly.

"Hell no, I give ya this I might as well just shoot myself." He stated, stepping around Kayla and trying to sling the cross bow over one of the handle bars on the bike, but still keeping Kayla in his peripheral vision.

"I don't think you have that much of a choice at this point." Kayla replied. "Besides, if I really wanted to kill you I would've done it by now." She said, un-strapping one of her hunting knifes from where it was hidden in her combat boot. She had found it one day when she was out collecting supplies in town and fell in love with the design on the handle. Daryl's eyes snapped to the large hunting knife in Kayla's hand and she could tell he was scolding himself for not checking her for weapons earlier.

"Get on the bike." Daryl snapped, quickly grabbing the hunting knife from Kayla's hand and stuffing it into his pants pocket. He slung a leg over his bike and held out his cross bow for Kayla to take, not once taking his eyes off of her.

"Now was that so hard?" Kayla smiled sweetly, taking Daryl's cross bow and securing it on her back. She really thought about running, but by the way Daryl was staring at her she knew she wouldn't get very far at all. And even if she did she was on foot, and he had a motorcycle, so he'd probably catch up to her sooner or later.

Daryl stayed totally silent, grunting when Kayla finally threw her leg over the bike and settled into the seat. "Ever been on a bike before?" He asked, not wanting to start the engine up yet until they were ready to take off, in case there were any walkers wondering close by.

"My cousin used to have one so I've rode on one a few times." Kayla responded, awkwardly flexing her fingers for a few seconds hovering them by Daryl's side before she wrapped her arms around his stomach. Daryl nodded and grunted once again, turning the key and revving the engine. Kayla adjusted her feet on the small foot rests and peeked over Daryl's shoulder as he kicked off from the road and the motorcycle lurched forward.

The noise from the engine was deafening, and Kayla kept her eyes glued on the surrounding area for any sign of walkers as Daryl drove off down the road. When they reached the end of the back road they winded up on a highway. There were abandoned cars littering the road, and Daryl skillfully wove his way between them all.

Daryl turned the motorcycle off onto an exit ramp and continued on down a road where there were a bunch of farms separated by large amounts of space. After around five farm houses Daryl pulled into a driveway of one of the houses and rolled the motorcycle to a stop just as the door to the farm was thrown open.

"Daryl's back!" A little boy shouted, turning his head to look into the farm house as he stepped out onto the porch. The boy couldn't have been older then 13, Kayla noticed as she climbed off of the back of Daryl's bike and handed him his cross boy back. He took the cross bow, ignoring the greetings from others who had started to gather on the front porch and turned around, starting up the stairs.

"My knife." Kayla stated, figuring he had forgotten he had had it. Daryl turned back to look at her and pulled the knife out of his pocket, glancing at it.

"Get this back when we figure out who ya are." He stated, stuffing the knife back into his pocket and pushing his way into the house, still ignoring the babble of his group. Kayla's jaw dropped and she could tell her face was growing red in anger as a man in a sheriff's hat started towards her. This is exactly why she had never trusted anyone before, and she clenched her fists tightly in anger at the situation. She didn't know any of these people, or what they were capable of. She was too far away to get back to her old camp quickly too. She was stranded, and was now without a weapon. The stupidest mistake of her life was ever trusting Daryl, and she made a mental note to never make that mistake again.


	3. Chapter 3

Kayla glared at the white door to the farm house as it slammed shut behind Daryl. Her eyes darted over to the man coming towards her with the dark brown sheriff's hat on. She quickly took a step back and glared at the man. He held up his hands to show that he was non-threatening and glanced behind him at the group of people congregated on the porch.

"My name's Rick, and this my group." The man introduced, keeping his hands up but motioning behind him with one of them towards the porch. "Do you have a group too?" He asked, slowly putting his hands down and taking another step towards Kayla. The man looked extremely overtired, with bags starting to form under his eyes.

"Kayla." She replied curtly, scanning the faces of the people on the porch. The little boy was standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching her and Rick with semi wide eyes. There was an older woman leaning against the banister of the porch, her arms folded across her chest as she watched for a few more seconds before turning around and ducking into the house. There were more people milling around but Rick cleared his throat, pulling Kayla's attention back to him. "No, I don't have a group." She answered finally.

Rick nodded before motioning towards the door of the farm house and smiling at Kayla. "I'll introduce you around if you want." He said, trying to be as friendly and inviting as possible to try and calm Kayla's nerves. Kayla stayed still for a few seconds, giving the farm house a weary look before she started to walk towards it. She was stuck here weather she liked it or not, and with the amount of women and the kid she had seen the people in the group couldn't be all that bad.

"This is my son Carl, and my wife Lori." He started out, motioning towards the small boy and the woman who exited the house and came to stand behind the kid. Carl smiled at her while Lori just gave her a small nod. "This is T-Dogg." He continued, pointing to a shortish dark skinned man leaning back against the paneling of the house. "That's Glenn and Maggie." He continued, motioning towards a couple by the corner of the porch. Kayla nodded at them each as she was introduced and followed Rick inside of the farm house. "That's Shane, Hershel, Andrea, Patricia, Jimmy, and Beth." He continued as they came across a group of people sitting around a dining room table. Each person nodded as they were introduced. "This is Kayla." Rick concluded, turning to look at her.

"Carol went after Daryl." Shane informed them both, getting up from his chair and walked towards Kayla and Rick. "Where are you from?" He asked, looking Kayla up and down as he came to a stop a foot or two away from her and Rick.

"Originally from Boston Massachusetts, but then I moved over here a few years ago. When shit started heading south I booked it into a cabin in the woods my dad used whenever he went hunting. It was pretty well secluded so I didn't run into any other people and rarely got a bitter until I went out to hunt and ran into Daryl." Kayla answered, staring back at Shane.

"You had anybody with you? A group or something?" Shane continued, not entirely trusting Kayla since she was new and no one knew her.

"You're group members already gave me the third degree. I wasn't with anyone when Daryl came across me, and I haven't been with anyone since this whole thing started." Kayla responded, getting a little tired of having to answer the same questions over and over again. An older woman with short gray hair walked into the dining room and stopped when she saw Kayla and Rick.

"This is Carol. Carol, this is Kayla." Rick stepped in to fill the silence. Kayla looked at Carol and gave her a small nod, and Carol returned the nod shortly after.

"So where was your cabin?" Shane brought up, raising an eyebrow at Kayla. "Any supplies you want to go back and grab so we can combine it with ours?" He asked. Kayla could tell he wasn't really asking though, he was stating what she would do.

"Just a little bit of food, since I was out hunting for more when I ran into Daryl." Kayla replied curtly. She wasn't a fan of all of the questions, and knew exactly where this conversation was headed. She was going to have to go to her cabin, gather up what food she had left as well as whatever else this group would need, and bring it back here. And with her luck, she'd be sent to fulfill all that with Daryl.

"Well it's getting dark out now, so we should stick close to the farm until the morning." Rick started off, glancing out the window as the sun started to set slowly. "But in the morning you and Daryl can head out and gather whatever stuff you left behind and bring it back. Daryl can take the truck to get there so you can use the bed of the truck to load the stuff into." He finished, letting the shade of the window fall shut once again as he turned back to face Kayla and the rest of the group in the room.

Kayla bit her cheek to keep the groan of frustration from making any real noise, and resisted rolling her eyes. She should have figured they would've wanted her to combine what was at her cabin with their own stuff, but throwing her into a truck with Daryl for her to go get her stuff was something she was not looking forward too. Tomorrow was not going to be a fun day.


	4. Chapter 4

Kayla kicked the dirt with the toe of her converse sneaker while she waited for Daryl by his motorcycle. She was exhausted since she didn't sleep virtually at all the night before. She wasn't afraid of the group, she was more uncomfortable of the thought of being around them without a weapon, since she had been on her own for so long. She had gotten up early and had taken the small bowl of cereal that Hershel had offered her with a quiet thank you. When she had finished with that she had found Rick and he had told her to wait outside for Daryl, so here she was, waiting for him to show up.

"Quit kickin the dirt and lets go." Daryl snapped at her, finally emerging from the farm house, cross bow in hand. As he moved towards Kayla and the motorcycle he threw a leather vest over his shoulders and adjusted it so that it was straight, putting the cross bow down on the porch steps for a second to accomplish this task. Picking up the cross bow again he continued towards Kayla, a frown glued on his face.

"I wouldn't be kicking the dirt if you had been on time." Kayla shot back, glaring at Daryl as he walked right by her and the motorcycle and continued towards the side of the house. Kayla rolled her eyes and followed a few feet behind him, glaring at the back of his head the entire time. Rounding the corner of the farm house Kayla saw a small, low to the ground, light blue truck. While it was obviously an old truck, it looked to be in good shape. It was pretty clean, with only a small amount of dirt around the tires and low on the sides of the truck.

"Get in." Daryl ordered, climbing into the driver's side of the truck and caused the engine to purr to life with a low hum. Kayla reluctantly hauled herself into the passenger seat, leaning her back against the door of the truck and staring straight ahead. Daryl placed his cross bow on the small space between his seat and Kayla's throwing her a sideways glance as he shifted the truck into drive and started to pull out from the side of the house.

"I'm not going to steal it and shoot you on the drive there, if that's what you're thinking." Kayla said bitterly, staring at the cross bow momentarily before turning her attention out the dashboard. She heard Daryl make a scoffing sound and turned her attention back to him, raising an eyebrow. "What?" She demanded, frowning slightly.

"Aint worried about you takin it. Bet you couldn't even load the damn thing." Daryl replied, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. Kayla's frown deepened, and her temper flared instantly, her brown eyes once again glaring angrily at the side of Daryl's face. She snatched the cross bow off of the seat and leaned back in her seat so she had enough room to hold the cross bow out in front of her, pointing it towards the street.

The second Kayla made a move to grab the bow Daryl jerked the steering wheel to the left, turning the truck quickly and he threw it into park on the side of the road. Kayla was thrown against the car door, her grip on the cross bow loosening as her instinct to brace herself against the fall. Daryl leaned across the seat and ripped the cross bow out of Kayla's grasp. Instead of aiming it at her, like Kayla had thought he would, Daryl tucked it onto the dashboard in front of him so it was stuck between the dashboard and the window.

"Aint nobody touch my cross bow but me, specially not you." Daryl said coldly, sending Kayla a stern look before he once again nudged the truck into drive and started back down the road. Kayla rubbed her elbow where she had bumped it against the car door and rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean, especially me?" Kayla asked, her nerves a little jumbled from being thrown against the side of the car.

"I don't know ya, for all I know ya coulda just shot me right then an there and wouldn'ta thought twice about it." Daryl stated matter of factly. He still saw Kayla as a potential threat, and he wasn't about to let his guard down around a potential threat. Kayla huffed and leaned back in her seat, propping her feet up on the dashboard of the car.

"Then maybe you should think about that next time you basically challenge me to try and load your cross bow." She replied a little smugly, shaking her long brown hair into her face to mask her smirk from Daryl.

"I aint challengin you to nothin." Daryl growled, starting to drive back towards the direction he had found Kayla the day before. Kayla fell into silence, making up her mind that she would eventually get to show Daryl that she could load and fire that cross bow even if it was the last thing she did.


End file.
